New Music

In 1999, computer science pioneer Ray Kurzweil published “The Age of Spiritual Machines,” positing that the super computers that were being developed at that time would eventually develop souls and the impact that would have on the future. A quarter century later, as we begin to comprehend the nature of A.I, borne of the legacy of Kurzweil’s predictions, producer/musician Evan Frankfort’s band The Spiritual Machines has embraced that narrative as a throughline for their band and new EP, Graviteasing. “The concept of backing up your brain into a hard drive and living in the cloud forever is not something that anybody really debates,” Frankfort asserts, mentioning the futurist and transhumanist figure as a major influence on his work. “They just debate on when it’s going to happen.” Drawing deeply from the rich ore of cinematic Rock like Pink Floyd, and pop prog (think Alan Parsons Project) Graviteasing builds on Frankfort’s sizable legacy in record production, film/TV scoring, and electronic and experimental sound design. Indeed, the big eared Frankfort has turned in outstanding work with Liz Phair, Pete Yorn, Plain White T’s, The Wallflowers, Warren Zevon, and many other industry greats.

“I’m not necessarily paying tribute but it’s in the fabric, right?” Frankfort says of his heroes including Peter Gabriel, Echo and The Bunnymen, Ultravox, and the Replacements. “I took 30 years to actually embrace that sound, in the context of making a record.” Indeed, Graviteasing goes many steps beyond any sort of pastiche; it’s a looking glass into Frankfort’s philosophical, technological, anxieties and yearnings. The music and radio world are now in for a thrill as The Spiritual Machines “Control Is An Illusion” (Would Work Sound) takes flight.